Genealogical Links

Counties in Georgia

Welcome

This site was created to chronicle and share my genealogy research. It is also a tool for others that are searching for their family members and to see if there is any connection to my family. This is a project that is going to take years to complete. It has been a labor of love, a great deal of fun and quite stimulating.

If you are interested in the various surnames, you can start with the ones across the top of this page or you can look for them in the categories section to the right.

Please leave comments on any of the posts/articles that you read or email me using the form on the right. I do want your feedback, I will try to answer any question, and I desire your interaction. Love to know how to improve this site to better serve you,

Help Me Continue This Research and Keep the Family Tree Online

This notable Scottish surname, variously spelt Maccrea, Maccraw, Maccree and Maccrie, derives from an ancient Gaelic male given name "MacRaith", son of grace, prosperity, or favour, from the Celtic "rat", luck, fortune.

Many Scottish families suffered enormous hardships and were compelled to leave their country of birth. They traveled to Ireland and Australia, but mostly to the colonies of North America, where many found the freedom and opportunity they sought.

It was not without a fight, though, as many was forced to stand up and defend their freedom in the American War of Independence. The ancestor for these Scots abroad have rediscovered their heritage in the last century through the Clan societies and other organizations that have sprung up across North America. Immigration and passenger ship lists show some important early immigrants bearing the name McCray.

This family starts for me with Mose(s) McRae and Matilda Horne McAllister McRae. They have 11 children that I am able to find in the census data, but I was told that there were 12 of them. This 12th one maybe the one son that I was told moved to Canada, passed as white and never returned. This is something that nobody wants to believe would happen in their own family, but it was quite common then. I do understand how one would feel it necessary to do, especially given the way people were treated by others when it was known that they had African blood.

The spelling of this name is different for many reasons. The census shows it as McRae more often and I believe that it is because they were living in or near McRae, Georgia. The only living granddaughter of Mose and Matilda, yes there is one still living, and in San Francisco, and she is the daughter of John Franklin McCrae. She says that her dad spelled his name mcCrae, but her brother who is John Franklin McCrae,Jr. spells it McCray.
Many names are consistently mispelled in the census.

Many of thought that there were many spelling variations of the name because maybe they could not read or write, but John Franklin McCrae, taught his children to read and write, so that theory is at least out of the question for him. He is also the one that signed Matilda's death certificate.

In the past three years this is the side of the family where I have made major discoveries and met lots of knew relatives and it has been wonderful. Many were in the areas of Georgia that were easily accessible from Savannah, but we didn't know each other. Thanks to Ancestry.com and technology, we were able to find each other and connect.

My Connection:My great great grandfather was Moses McRae, born 1846, in Telfair County, Georgia, to Mary and an unknown father. I was recently made aware that a Nelson McRae may have been his father, but that is not yet confirmed, he was considered mulatto. Moses married Matilda Horn McAllister in 1872 and they had 10 known children, Emma(who was born before their marriage), Edward, Sarah, Susie(my great grandmother), John, Earnest, Milbern, James, Joseph, and Waldo.